MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas jumped out to a 14-0 lead, carried a 24-21 advantage into the halftime locker room and built its lead to 40-31 at the 10:49 mark of the fourth quarter, but was unable to hold onto the lead late as Oklahoma Baptist scored the final 13 points of the game, including its sixth touchdown of the afternoon with just over four minutes to play to claim a 44-40 win on Saturday from inside Wilkins Stadium at Rip Powell Field. OBU improves to 6-3 in Great American Conference play, while the Muleriders fall to 3-6.
 
With the exception of a 26-yard field goal from the leg of the Bison's Guillermo Garcia Rodriguez at the 8:15 mark of the third quarter that tied the game at 24 and the first 3:04 of the game that went scoreless from both sides, the Bison did not lead in the contest until the go-ahead touchdown.
 
The Muleriders received a big boost on Saturday from their special teams units as junior Austin Wilkerson nailed two field goals, a 47-yarder late in the second quarter and a 38-yarder with less than 65 seconds to play in the third quarter, and freshman Demarcus Williams matched the program record for longest kickoff return (Jordan Babineaux vs. Delta State, 2003) that included a little trick with a whole lot of treat as he housed a 100-yard jaunt after appearing to take a knee before taking off for six.
 
Additionally, Southern Arkansas nearly returned a blocked PAT for two points after the Bison scored to cut the game to 40-37.
 
SAU's first two scores were both one-yard runs as redshirt freshman Jariq Scales capped a seven-play, 75-yard drive on the game's first drive, before freshman Blake May punched in a 36 inch carry for six to close out a nine-play, 77-yard effort.
 
May added a 28-yard scoring run seven seconds into the second quarter and the next three scores included Wilkerson's kicks sandwiching Williams' trickery. The final trip to pay dirt saw senior Hayden Mallory finding redshirt junior Micah Small for a 75-yard strike that took just 11 seconds with 10:49 to play.
 
Scales became the first running back since 2016 and just the 11^th in program history to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark on the ground as he turned 21 attempts into 138 yards with a long of 52 and a touchdown. He now has 1,112 rushing yards this season are the sixth-most in a single season and are 215 yards back of Julian Frazier's program-record of 1,327 yards set back in 1993.
 
Small hauled in four passes for 95 yards and a score. He is 193 yards back of the 1,000-yard receiving mark which would make him just the third Mulerider wideout to accomplish the feat. His is also a scoring catch away from becoming the third different player with ten or more scoring grabs in a single season.
 
Senior Desmond Jones nearly went over 100 all-purpose yards with 70 receiving on five catches and 28 return yards. Williams finished with 134 kickoff return yards on five touches.
 
Redshirt freshman Gavin Roe recorded a career-high in tackles with a team-leading dozen. Junior Brock Floyd followed with nine and three other players registered eight.
 
Southern Arkansas hits the road for the final time in 2021 as the first Saturday of November has the squad in Bethany, Oklahoma for a 1 p.m. kickoff against Southern Nazarene. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.